Thought I would post this to generate some discussion and help me make a decision.

I have Bibleworks 7 and it is my standard tool. I use it nearly every day. I have BADG 2nd edition in print.

Here is the dilemma. Should I upgrade to Bibleworks 8 or should I add the BDAG 3rd edition to Bibleworks 7 (or I could by a print version for approx the same price)?

The cost of each would be $150 and I cannot afford both this year.

Looking for opinions and wise advice. :)

Michael Hanel

10-14-2009, 11:05 AM

Thought I would post this to generate some discussion and help me make a decision.

I have Bibleworks 7 and it is my standard tool. I use it nearly every day. I have BADG 2nd edition in print.

Here is the dilemma. Should I upgrade to Bibleworks 8 or should I add the BDAG 3rd edition to Bibleworks 7 (or I could by a print version for approx the same price)?

The cost of each would be $150 and I cannot afford both this year.

Looking for opinions and wise advice. :)

You say it's your standard tool, but my question is tool for what? What kinds of things do you do with BibleWorks? That might be the biggest key. It will probably be a tough call, but I would say I'd probably err on the side of getting BW8. You'll get the Gingrich lexicon which surely isn't the same as BDAG, but it will be an upgrade from what you're using in BW7 probably. In addition, you get access to a lot of other great stuff in BW8.

ISalzman

10-14-2009, 11:39 AM

Thought I would post this to generate some discussion and help me make a decision.

I have Bibleworks 7 and it is my standard tool. I use it nearly every day. I have BADG 2nd edition in print.

Here is the dilemma. Should I upgrade to Bibleworks 8 or should I add the BDAG 3rd edition to Bibleworks 7 (or I could by a print version for approx the same price)?

The cost of each would be $150 and I cannot afford both this year.

Looking for opinions and wise advice. :)

Just my opinion. But I would upgrade to BW8 this year. The improvements from BW7 to BW8 are definitely worth it in my opinion. Beside, your print edition of BDAG is fully capable of serving you well for another year. You can always invest in and upgrade to the 3rd edition of BDAG next year. (I would get the digital edition of BDAG myself)

Adelphos

10-14-2009, 11:57 AM

I don't think there's even a question. BW8 will give you infintely more bang for the buck than merely adding an electronic lexicon which you already have in print.

If you are doing in-depth work with the lexicon, then that means you're already spending alot of time in its pages, not simply looking up entries. Thus, having the electronic edition would be of no real benetif to you, for it's actually easier to read from the printed page than from the computer screen. (I think most would agree with that).

On the other hand, if you're merely looking up entries, while it will certainly take you longer to find them in the print edition than in the electronic edition, yet the glosses will not be materially too much different in the electronic editions you already have than they are in the electronic BDAG.

In other words, investing in the electronic module will do very, very little for increasing the firepower of your bibical arsenal, especially since it's something that you basically already have in print, whereas investing in the upgarde to BW8 will add reams of new and improved material to your biblical arsenal that you are currently lacking.

boeinguy2

10-14-2009, 12:02 PM

You say it's your standard tool, but my question is tool for what? What kinds of things do you do with BibleWorks? That might be the biggest key. It will probably be a tough call, but I would say I'd probably err on the side of getting BW8. You'll get the Gingrich lexicon which surely isn't the same as BDAG, but it will be an upgrade from what you're using in BW7 probably. In addition, you get access to a lot of other great stuff in BW8.

I use Bibleworks to prepare Bible Studies for a class I teach and occasionally for sermons ( I attend a Brethren church where I preach a few times each year). Currently I am teaching through Luke. I do not know any Hebrew so I really only take advantage of the Greek. I know enough Greek to be dangerous :o; and am working hard at learning to read fluidly. So I use the text, mostly the UBS dictionary for quick glosses, and Luow and Nida for more detail. When I need more I have BAGD, Liddel & Scott, Colin Brown, Balz & Schneider, TDNT, & Spicq, all in print. The morph tags are useful when I get stuck and for idioms.

I have heard good things about BDAG particulary its's usability. Also great stuff about BW8

MGVH

10-14-2009, 12:27 PM

Upgrade to BW8 and use the BAGD for now.
[For $119 (instead of the $150 for BDAG) you can get Balz/Schneider EDNT.]

Mark Eddy

10-15-2009, 10:41 PM

Just so you hear the other side, I think BDAG is a great addition, more comprehensive than the less expensive Balz-Schneider, since it also covers the Apostolic fathers, and seems slightly more helpful for the Septuagint too.
Before I got BibleWorks I about wore out BAG (1st edition), as I manually looked up all the pertinent words. I wrote down some of the references, but never had time to look them up.
When BAGD (2nd ed.) came out, I bought it, but also bought BibleWorks. I almost never opened BAGD, since it was so much quicker to look up glosses in the lexicons in BibleWorks, and I could look up the references with just a click of a mouse.
Then BW got BDAG (3rd ed.), and now I can look up all the entries in BDAG for any word I want, without paging through. I can look up almost all the references in BDAG (no hyperlinks to the Apostolic fathers, yet), so I can actually check Danker out to see if he got it right. I have used BDAG in BibleWorks since BW6 (I think), so if I had to choose between the two, getting BDAG would be more useful than upgrading to BW8.
On the other hand, if you were able to use Hebrew, BW8 has some extra Hebrew aids which might tip the scales in favor of getting it.
Mark Eddy

Sansom48

10-15-2009, 10:58 PM

I think that Mike said it best, it really does depend on what your use for BW is. Personally, I can honestly say that even though I did purchase BW8 that in reality I barely used the applications of BW7 and at the time did not truly need the newer version. That being said, I have been fairly vigilant in attempting to learn the many uses of BW including the new ones in BW 8. I now would say that the potential uses of BW 8 are incredible. If all you use BW for is to speed read through a text, then I would say stick with 7 and buy the digital form of BDAG, it will certainly help your speed reading and translating, but if you are or plan to use many of the applications of BW then I would say to just survive with your print edition and get BW 8.

cookewhitley

10-21-2009, 06:08 AM

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